The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Charge of attempted murder in city denied
Trial: Not guilty plea to accusation of hitting a man with a car
A man has gone on trial accused of knocking down and trying to kill another man in Aberdeen.
Michael Scott of Sunderland has denied hitting Graeme Hardie with a car outside the Staging Post in Bucksburn.
Mr Hardie, 58, was found seriously hurt on Old Meldrum Road on July 11 last year.
At the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday, the jury heard Mr Hardie had been in the pub for his brother’s wake when a row had broken out during England’s World Cup clash with Croatia.
The court heard Scott, 35, had been loudly cheering England on which had made Mr Hardie “agitated”.
Family friend Steven Forrest said Mr Hardie’s reaction had been to start chanting for Scotland.
He told the court: “Graeme had just buried his brother, so I asked if Scott wouldn’t mind turning it down a bit.”
But he claimed Scott swore in response and said he did not care.
Advocate depute William Frain-Bell, prosecuting, played jurors CCTV footage from the bar which showed Mr Hardie going over to Scott a number of times.
Defence counsel advocate Bill Adam argued that the footage showed his client, Scott, never left his chair and had tried to shake hands with Mr Hardie.
Mr Forrest said that Mr Hardie walked out of the bar and was unaccounted
for about an hour. When hewasfoundinthestreet, Mr Forrest said he was in a “bad way” with his shin “ripped open and the bone showing”.
“He was lying on his back and was gurgling blood,” he added.
Bar manager Allan
Beattie also gave evidence as the first day of the trial got under way.
He said Scott had been racist about Scottish people and had sworn, and that he “just wanted him out” the pub.
“I even offered to give him his money back,” Mr
Beattie said. “I just wanted him out.
“He left but he didn’t take the money. He took his pint glass.”
Scott faces six charges including attempted murder, dangerous driving at speed and on the wrong side of the road and acting in a threatening and abusive manner in the Staging Post and the Spider’s Web in Dyce.
He is also accused of threatening officers as they transported him to the Kittybrewster police station, making himself sick and urinating in the back of their car and failing to provide a breath sample for alcohol testing.
Scott, of Rosslyn Avenue, Sunderland, denies the charges. The trial, before Lord Uist, continues.